Like operator in LINQ to Objects

Question

I'm trying to emulate the LIKE operator in LINQ to Objects. Here my code:

List<string> list = new List<string>();
list.Add("line one");
list.Add("line two");
list.Add("line three");
list.Add("line four");
list.Add("line five");
list.Add("line six");
list.Add("line seven");
list.Add("line eight");
list.Add("line nine");
list.Add("line ten");

string pattern = "%ine%e";

var res = from i in list
            where System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlMethods.Like(i, pattern)
              select i;

It did not get me result because of System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlMethods.Like is only for translation into SQL.

Does anything similar to sql LIKE operator exists in LINQ to Objects world?

Answer 1

I don't know of one that readily exists, but if you're familiar with regular expressions, you can write your own:

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public static class MyExtensions
{
    public static bool Like(this string s, string pattern, RegexOptions options = RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
    {
        return Regex.IsMatch(s, pattern, options);
    }
}

And then in your code:

string pattern = ".*ine.*e";
var res = from i in list
    where i.Like(pattern)
    select i;